32 | NOVEMBER 23 • 2023
J
N
OUR COMMUNITY
O
ne of the blessings
of being born with
a disability, says
Michigan Supreme Court
Justice Richard Bernstein, is
that you’re given a chance to
impact people in a way that
you may have never thought
possible.
“It serves as a unifier,” he
explains of disabilities, which
don’t discriminate based on
religion, race or where you’re
born. “Everybody has a
connection to disability.”
In Bernstein’s case, the
connection is personal. Born
blind, the Jewish justice —
who is the first blind justice
to be elected to the court
— advocates for disability
equality and acceptance
when court isn’t in session.
For others, it may be a
family member, friend,
neighbor or coworker with a
disability.
Still, Bernstein doesn’t
only advocate on a local
level. He travels the globe,
often in partnership with
the State Department, to
foster connections with
communities and disabled
individuals in countries with
strained relationships with
the United States.
“We’re not doing any
kind of heavy lifting
diplomatically,” he explains
of the missions, “but what
we’re doing is creating
a sense of goodwill, and
creating something on
the deepest,
most personal
level that you
can possibly
imagine.”
While the
work itself may
not directly
change relations
between
countries,
it changes
relationships
between people
living in those
countries who hail from
different worlds but have one
key thing in common: an
understanding of disability
and its impact.
Here are the various
countries that Bernstein
has recently visited and the
ongoing work being done.
BOLIVIA
Most recently, Bernstein,
48, returned from a two-
week trip to Bolivia, a South
American country with a
strained relationship with
the U.S. Bernstein met with
both Bolivian public and
political leaders,
especially people
of influence with
children with
disabilities.
Some
meetings,
especially those
with a more
public edge, were
done by day.
For example,
Bernstein shared
his experience in
the legal field as
a blind individual (created in
partnership with Universidad
Privada de Bolivia) and met
with disabled athletes.
Other meetings, especially
those with families that
took place in people’s
homes, were done by night
in a more clandestine
manner. “Bolivia can be a
very challenging country,”
Bernstein explains. “It tends
to have relationships more
exclusively with Iran and
China.”
Still, the mission was
a success — and the
State Department is even
considering a second trip to
continue building upon the
relationships forged in the
first round.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Bernstein is no stranger to
the United Arab Emirates,
where he’s spent a lot of time
working with the Abraham
Accords, which are bilateral
agreements on Arab-Israeli
normalization signed
between Israel, UAE and
Bahrain in September 2020.
Specifically, Bernstein
helped craft disability
components for the Abraham
Accords.
Yet, most recently,
Bernstein was featured on
Al Arabiya, an international
One country at a time, Justice
Richard Bernstein promotes
acceptance and equality.
A Worldwide
Advocate for
People With
Disabilities
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Justice Richard Bernstein
Justice Richard Bernstein visits with
Oscar Tejerina, provost of the Bolivian
Academy of Economics & Sciences,
and a visually impaired student.